Syrian government forces and the Turkish military clashed on Tuesday for the first time since Ankara launched an offensive in northeastern Syria three weeks ago, a war monitor said.

 

“Heavy fighting erupted for the first time between the Syrian and Turkish armies,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

 

The Britain-based monitoring group said artillery and machinegun fire was exchanged near the village of Assadiya, south of the border town of Ras al-Ain.

 

At least six Syrian soldiers were wounded in the fighting, the Observatory said.

 

The Turkish military and its Syrian proxies attacked Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria on October 9 with the aim of creating a roughly 30-kilometer deep buffer zone.

 

Kurdish forces agreed to withdraw from a 120-kilometer long, Arab-majority segment of the 440-kilometer border zone, although clashes have been reported since.

 

Turkey subsequently reached a deal with the Syrian government’s main backer Russia for Kurdish forces to pull back from the entire border area.

 

Left in the lurch by a US troop withdrawal from the border area, Kurdish forces turned to the government for protection.

 

Government forces are now expected to deploy along much of the border zone but a 10-kilometer-deep strip is to be jointly patrolled by Russian and Turkish troops, starting from Tuesday.